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Rating:
“I am the savior of record companies, I am the magician of their economic returns, they call me a pedophile, yes, but musical because I follow what pleases teenage girls, but the serious and increasingly worrying thing is that I'm convinced I'm an interesting artist, so I deserve applause, a special prize for having stupified the national population.”
Surely, with this review, I will attract a lot of criticism, but I don't care because it is important to get to know this debut work of Simone Cristicchi, whom we have already encountered in radio and television programming, with the hit "Vorrei cantare come Biagio Antonacci". The world of commercial music unfortunately never offers anything interesting. We are always faced with the usual easy-going, carefree, nauseating, and stupid songs. Instead, Simone Cristicchi goes beyond this standard, and "Fabbricante di canzoni", besides being an album musically curated, features remarkable, intelligent, (self-)ironic, and irreverent lyrics. Additionally, he has won prestigious awards like the SIAE Prize for Best Songwriter Song (1998), the Silver Cylinder, the award for emerging songwriters at the Rino Gaetano Festival "Una casa per Rino" (2003), and this year, the Recanati Prize (Musicultura).
Simone Cristicchi is a young man passionately devoted to Italian songwriting but, above all, he has a very broad musical knowledge, which can be gleaned from the arrangements of his pieces, the lyrics, and the interviews he has given. But, most importantly, he criticizes the music system from the inside, having become a part of it, even targeting boy bands ("musical pedophiles"). What strikes you about this album is a spontaneous madness that you would never expect from a pseudo-summer hit singer, a clear and healthy madness that tarnishes catchy and carefree music, that desecrates the democracy of Italian music that, unfortunately, we are forced (willingly or unwillingly) to listen to daily.
"Senza" is an engaging reggae piece about unemployment, entertaining and intelligent while "Studentessa universitaria", the album's second single for the radio, accurately represents the situation of millions of out-of-town university students, dissatisfied, who sometimes regret the province they come from, and especially "who collect exam grades, who score 30 to feel happier" but alone and without the old childhood friends. "Vorrei cantare come Biagio Antonacci" is a very clear (but why don't they understand?) satire of the Italian record industry that seeks to manufacture success without giving space to those who actually want to communicate something important and express themselves in a world, unfortunately, closed and elite. He himself has stated that record companies never accepted his songs, that they wanted short lyrics, with summer vibes to hum along to, with keywords like "sun, summer, sea, sand" (as he ironically points out in the delightful skit "Telefonata per l’estate"). And indeed, following these guidelines of the producer who rejected his songs considered "too serious," he made his summer song, in his own way, the funny and brilliant "Ombrelloni". Finally, I want to remind you that, in addition to much irony and originality (sometimes Bugo comes to mind in certain pieces), there are also songs full of emotion like the beautiful and heartrending "Questo è amore" sung with Sergio Endrigo, recently passed away. In short, I ask you to listen to this album in its entirety and then judge it and not rush into negative judgments about this young man just because he was the summer hit. Listen to it, and then we can talk about it...
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Studentessa universitaria (03:51)
Studentessa universitaria, triste e solitaria
Nella tua stanzetta umida, ripassi bene la lezione di filosofia
E la mattina sei già china sulla scrivania
E la sera ti ritrovi a fissare il soffitto, i soldi per pagare l’affitto te li manda papà.
Ricordi la corriera che passava lenta, sotto il sole arroventato di Sicilia
I fichi d’India che crescevano disordinati ai bordi delle strade
Lucertole impazzite, le poche case…
Ricordi quel profumo dolce di paese e pane caldo,
i pomeriggi torridi, la piazza, la domenica,
e il mare sconfinato che si spalancava dal terrazzo,
della tua camera da letto.
Ripensi alle salite in bicicletta per raggiungere il cadavere di una capretta,
il tabernacolo della Madonna in cima alla montagna, che emozione!
Tutte le candele accese di un paese in processione, gocce di sudore sulla fronte
Odore di sapone di Marsiglia e di lenzuola fresche per l’estate,
gli occhi neri di una donna ferma sulle scale, gli occhi di tua madre…
Studentessa universitaria, triste e solitaria
Nella tua stanzetta umida, ripassi bene la lezione di filosofia
E la mattina sei già china sulla scrivania
E la sera ti ritrovi a fissare il soffitto, i soldi per pagare l’affitto te li manda papà…
Studentessa chiusa nella metropolitana, devi scendere, la prossima è la tua fermata!
Sotto braccio libri,fotocopie, appunti sottolineati
ed un libretto dove collezioni i voti degli esami,
questa vita fatta di lezioni e professori assenti, file chilometriche per fare i documenti,
prendere un bel trenta per sentirsi più felici, ma soli e senza i tuoi amici…
Carmelo sta a Milano in facoltà di Economia, Fabiana e Sara Lettere indirizzo Archeologia
Poi c’è Concetta, sta a Perugia e studia da Veterinaria,
Giurisprudenza invece la fa Ilaria e Marco spaccia cocaina
e un giorno lo metteranno dentro, il tuo ragazzo studia Architettura e nel frattempo
passa i giorni dando il resto dalla cassa di un supermercato in centro…
Studentessa universitaria, triste e solitaria
Nella tua stanzetta umida, ripassi bene la lezione di filosofia
E la mattina sei già china sulla scrivania
E la sera ti ritrovi a fissare il soffitto, i soldi per pagare l’affitto te li manda papà…
Studentessa universitaria, sfiori la tua pancia
Dentro c’è una bella novità, che a primavera nascerà per farti compagnia,
la vita non è dentro un libro di Filosofia
e la sera ti ritrovi a pensare al futuro
e ti sembra più vicina la tua serenità.
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Other reviews
By Liamyes
It's impossible not to smile at some tracks.
'Fabbricante di canzoni' honors Simone Cristicchi who, in an ironic and irreverent way, writes catchy, fresh, and direct songs.
